Rocky Mountain showdown's run in Denver nearing the end

CSU football players go head-to-head with CU players during the second half of last year's Rocky Mountain Showdown in Denver. The schools only have three more games against each other scheduled in Denver, including this year's matchup on Friday night.(Photo: Ron Chenoy/USA TODAY Sports)

A state divided, half pulling for CSU's football team and half cheering on CU.

It's that way at the stadium on game day, too, with Colorado State University's fans in the east stands and north end zone of Sports Authority at Mile High and the University of Colorado's fans in the west stands and south end zone.

"It's a little bit unique in that you've got a home crowd and you've got an away crowd, meaning that your home crowd fans are there, so it feels like a home game," third-year CSU coach Mike Bobo said. "And then it feels like an away game because CU (fans are there). So it's half and half."

Enjoy it while you can.

Because it's going away soon.

There are only three more games scheduled in Denver between CSU and CU, including Friday night's 6 p.m. contest at the 76,125-seat home of the NFL's Denver Broncos. The final game in the current 10-year contract between the two schools is scheduled for 2020 at CSU's new on-campus stadium, and they won't meet at all in 2021 or 2022.

Although the two schools have a verbal agreement in place for games in 2023 and 2024 at campus sites, CSU athletic director Joe Parker said earlier this week, it won't be the same.

It certainly won't be what it was in 1998, when the game was first moved to Denver because neither school had a stadium large enough to accommodate the crowds it could draw. A sellout of 76,036 at the old Mile High Stadium the first year, and 73,000-plus in four of the next five seasons. The 76,219 at the 2003 game at Sports Authority Field at Mile High remains the largest crowd to ever see a college football game in the state.

CSU cleared $1 million to $1.5 million more by playing in Denver than it would have from playing CU in a home game at a sold-out Hughes Stadium, as it last did in 1996. Hughes only had 32,500 seats.

The financial benefit wasn't quite as significant for CU, athletic director Mike Bohn said, with a stadium in Boulder that seated more than 53,000. But the Buffs, at the time, preferred the big stage, too.

It was on that stage that Bradlee Van Pelt provided CSU fans with their signature moment in the rivalry, spiking the football off the helmet of CU's Roderick Sneed while crossing the end zone to lead the Rams to a 19-14 win over the then-No. 7 Buffs in the 2002 season-opener.

The following year, CU quarterback Joel Klatt threw for 402 yards and four touchdowns to lead the Buffs to a 42-35 win over Van Pelt and the Rams.

CU teams beat Sonny Lubick-coached CSU teams that were ranked in the Top 25 in 1998 and 2001, and CSU returned the favor over Gary Barnett-coached Buffs teams in 1999, 2000 and 2003. The post-game celebration of CSU fans in the stands following the 1999 game ended with Denver Police spraying tear gas on the crowd.

Mike MacIntyre, CU's fifth-year coach, wasn't around for those games. But he recognizes what playing in an NFL stadium, with the entire state watching, means to his players and fans.

"I think it's pretty cool, pretty fun," he said.

Bobo is new to the rivalry, too, and still seeking his first win over CU.

Playing in Denver, he said, is reminiscent of the Florida-Georgia games in Jacksonville, Florida, that he was part of as both a player and coach at Georgia.

With an added twist.

Those schools were in the same conference, the Southeastern. CSU and CU haven't been in the same conference since 1947, when the Buffs left the Skyline Conference to join what was then the Big Eight.

"We're still a Group of 5; they're a Power 5 team in the Pac-12 that has won a national championship," he said. "There's a lot of prestige in the perception of Colorado. Colorado State wants to be on that level, so it's a little bit of us trying to prove that we belong on that stage."

Early ticket sales suggest the crowd could top 70,000 for this year's game, which would be the largest since 2003. CU had sold 29,576 as of Wednesday afternoon, and had more than 35,000 tickets out, counting tickets for its marching band and complementary tickets given to the families of players and coaches and some sponsors, school spokesman David Plati said. CU students had purchased 9,829 tickets.

CSU had 31,373 tickets out as of mid-day Wednesday, school spokesman Paul Kirk said, including 8,633 that were sold to students. The school only had 435 remaining for the general public and 434 left for students, he said.

Fans started clamoring for a return to campus sites in 2011, when attendance dipped to 57,186 – an all-time low for a game in Denver between the two schools. Although attendance has climbed steadily since, to 69,850 last year, the athletic directors of both schools would rather play the game on their respective campuses.

And CU, with only three nonconference games on its schedule since its move to the Pacific-12 Conference in 2011 instead of the four it had in the Big 12, would rather not play the Rams in one of those games every year, athletic director Rick George said. He prefers scheduling two-year home-and-home series with regional rivals like CSU, Air Force and, possibly, Wyoming.

The Buffs will play Air Force in 2019 and 2022 and CSU again in 2023 and 2024, with one game in Boulder and the other in Fort Collins.

"We've got a verbal agreement that we're planning to play in '23 and '24," Parker said. "We just haven't signed the documentation, so we can make a formal announcement yet."

For three more years, though, they're playing in Denver, where the rivalry has been magnified. It means a lot, Bobo and MacIntyre said, to both universities, their students, their fans and their respective communities.

And most of all, their players.

"I definitely understand the magnitude of this game," said CSU tackle Zach Golditch, a senior from Aurora. "Personally, it's all about pride and owing the state of Colorado, which is a huge deal. It's a really, really big deal to me."

Follow reporter Kelly Lyell at twitter.com/KellyLyell and facebook.com/KellyLyell.news and listen to him talk CSU sports at 11:35 a.m. Thursdays on KFKA radio (AM 1310).

Facebook live pregame show: Join Coloradoan reporters Kevin Lytle and Kelly Lyell at 5:30 p.m. Friday on Facebook for a live look at the matchup and their thoughts on the game

Twitter updates: @Kevin_Lytle, @KellyLyell

Friday’s weather in Denver: Party cloudy with a high of 86 degrees and an overnight low of 60 with a 20 percent chance of precipitation

Tickets: $35-$40 in CSU sections and can be purchased online through CSURams.com, by calling 800-491-7267 or 970-491-7267 or in person Monday through Friday at the McGraw Athletic Center Ticket Office west of Moby Arena on the CSU campus from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tickets available in CU sections range from $35-85 and can be purchased online at CUBuffs.com/tickets, by calling 800-872-8337 or 303-492-8337 or in person from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. weekdays at the ticket office on the first floor of the Champions Center on the Boulder campus

Coaches and records: CSU is coached by Mike Bobo, who is in his third season and is 15-12. CU is coached by Mike MacIntyre who is 35-52 overall and 20-31 entering his fifth season with the Buffs